A standard aircraft Ethernet interconnect system (for carrying high rate bits between computer circuits on the aircraft) uses a special quad cable that has four individually insulated conductors and a grounded main shield around the conductors, and has a 100 ohm characteristic impedance. The four cable conductors are terminated to contacts of a Quadrax connector that is inserted into a bore of a specialized metallic insert having several bores and holding specialized contacts that connect the four Quadrax contacts to terminals. A common type of such terminals includes socket contacts that project from a connector that is mounted on a circuit board. The special metallic insert that receives the Quadrax connector is expensive.
A low cost header for connecting other pairs of contacts includes a plastic molded frame having multiple rows and columns of passages and a double-ended pin in each passage. The rear ends of the passages can receive terminals of a mating connector. It would be desirable if the front ends of the insert pins could electrically mate with the contacts of the Quadrax type connector. The much lower cost of the molded plastic insert would greatly reduce the cost of the Ethernet connector system.